A Detailed Analysis on PrestaShop, OpenCart and Magento

What is an Ecommerce Platform?

The software application which actually allows you, as an online business person to manage your operations, website and sales is called an Ecommerce Platform. There are several kind of Ecommerce platforms that are available nowadays however the three most commonly used are PrestaShop, Magento and OpenCart. We will briefly analyze these three platforms and see which one is more conducive for your online business.

Benefits of Ecommerce Platforms

There are countless operational benefits and tools which an Ecommerce platform can actually provide you, some important benefits have been listed below

Search capabilities

Product management suite

Promotions

Merchandising

Pricing

Things to look!

You cannot just go into the market and purchase an Ecommerce Platform without doing any kind of research on it. You have to keep into consideration certain aspects before you actually buy a platform. Some of the things to consider are

Can you talk to the real person when you need any kind of assistance or help?

Does the Ecommerce Platform which you want to purchase integrate with modern day social media platforms

Are there any product limits?

The Analysis

Now let’s do some Analysis on the three major Ecommerce Platforms which are commonly utilized by the masses. We will start with PrestaShop.

1. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is very much similar to Magento and OpenCart. It is more of a Platform which is Open Source in nature. It is home to some wonderful collection of modules and themes. The platform also has the privilege of being backed by a very vibrant community. Some key features of PrestaShop are

It is an Open Source Application

As a user it provides you with a network or group of certified partners that can provide you necessary assistance with respect to any issue you face in the platform

Usage

The biggest plus point which PrestaShop has under its belt is that this application is very easy to use especially when compared with wordpress. The back end of the platform depicts the analytics clearly; of course the information is highly detailed.

Outstanding documentation is available in PrestaShop which actually assists you in learning the ropes. Even if you skip the documentation part, still you can learn the dynamics and operations of this platform with ease provided you have some experience pertaining to CMSs and Webpages.

2. OpenCart

OpenCart is also an open source platform which is very easy and simple for you to utilize. As a user you can start new stores and at the same time customize these stores via premium and free themes that are provided by OpenCart. The features which have made OpenCart popular are as follows

Wonderful extensions and themes are offered

Backups can be managed from the interface

Important store metrics get tracked automatically. The tracks get displayed in admin interface

Built-in discount and affiliate systems are their

From a single dashboard, multiple stores can be managed

Products can be distinguished as per their attributes

Usage

OpenCart is one of the simplest to use platforms. The official documentation helps you learn the entire store setting process. Other advanced resources can also be utilized by you.

3. Magento

It is an open source platform which has been written in PHP. The platform has the ability to power stores regardless of their size. The application powers more than 200,000 stores. Magento is available in three different editions in the market.

The names of these editions are Cloud enterprise, Enterprise and Community. Some significant features of Magento have been stated in the points below

The platform has a very healthy community behind its back

The platform provides you with outstanding scalability

The platform is equipped with a library having hundreds of different extensions

The checkout process can be customized by you

Built-in Search Engine Optimization functions are their

Order Management tools like gift registries, wish lists and reward systems are very much their

Usage

As compared to other two platforms which we have mentioned above, Magento is not that simple to utilize. You do not need to be professional developer to operate this platform however still you need to go through the documentation if you wish to make valuable use of the advanced tools that are available in this Ecommerce Platform.

Which is the best Ecommerce platform?

If you are someone who wants to get things done simply in a low budget then the best option for you is OpenCart. Yes PrestaShop is also not a bad choice however its cost can go up drastically even if you are working for a small store. Overall it also depends on your business dynamics as each of these three Ecommerce platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses.